MARK Robins is looking for his Coventry City players to bridge the performance gap between themselves and stand-out striker David McGoldrick.

The Sky Blues boss welcomes the Forest frontman back to his starting XI after being cup-tied against Arsenal in the week as the manager prepares to face his home-town club Oldham Athletic this afternoon.

“David has been on fire,” said Robins who will also bring young loan Gunner Conor Henderson back in, probably at the expense of City’s consolation goalscorer from the Emirates, Callum Ball, due to the restrictions on the number of loan players.

“He’s looked our best player and I am hoping that gap will be closed very shortly by our other players, which will mean we will be performing something like I want. We have a couple of players back in the mix with Conor as well. There were a lot of positives from the other night and if we can take the way we passed the ball into today’s game I will be well pleased.”

Another plus from the Arsenal experience was new signing Franck Moussa’s hunger for and ability with the ball in a side with several fresh faces who settled in quickly.

“Good players tend to do that,” said Robins.

“Franck’s excellent and wants the ball. He’s got a bit of pace so he’s capable of going past people and can finish. I tried to give him as long as I could but once he got past an hour he was tired the other night.

“I really could have brought him off five minutes before because we were exposed down the left where Jamie Reckord did absolutely brilliantly with his one v one defending and we just needed a little bit more help and when Flecky came on he looked great.

“He’s another one who has missed several weeks of pre-season and he needs to play and train, so we’ll get him on and it’s great to have these players in the squad and ready to come in because there are going to be tired legs.”

As for Ball, one of two loan signings from Derby, Robins said: “I know Callum and have watched quite a bit of him so I know he is capable, but I have got a situation here where I have got six loan players and I can only use five, so I have got to look at how best to utilise them and one of them is going to miss out today and that may be Callum, which will be a real shame.

“I want to be able to play the way we need to. I will assess what the options are and make sure there are no illnesses or anything, but he’ll travel and I’ll make a final decision later on.

“But if he does miss out I want him back in the squad or back in the side. There’s competition for places now which is always good for a manager because there is always illness, suspension and injury as we go on, but he’s going to play his part.

“I thought he was excellent on Wednesday when he went on, the way he moved, the way he got into goal scoring opportunities. He could have had another one because he got into a great position and I backed him to score there and the one he did score he did really well. It was a fantastic goal.”

City will also be without midfielder Steve Jennings who is sidelined for up to two weeks with a hip/thigh injury and skipper Kevin Kilbane is also struggling with a tight hamstring that forced him to miss the midweek game.

Richard Wood, however, who suffered a broken nose and two black eyes against the Premier League outfit, is expected to make himself available for the match at Boundary Park which is familiar territory for Robins.

“I am from Oldham, lived in Oldham, went to school in Oldham and scored a hat-trick against Oldham for Norwich, so I am familiar with the area and certainly got an affinity with it,” said the manager who grew up supporting a team who play in red nearby in Manchester.

“But I’ll be going there and trying to get the full three points and bring them back to Coventry. I said last week that our season starts here but we really didn’t start did we, so our season starts at Oldham.”

As for the 8,000 fans who made the trip to North London on Wednesday night, Robins said: “They were fantastic and I am looking forward to seeing them all again at Oldham, and I am sure Oldham are too!

“One of the best feelings when you go away from home is hearing your supporters. The way they backed the team the other night was so important. They expect a performance and what I say is if you back us you will get a better performance because the players will respond to it, because it is human nature.”